"WIth A Little Help."
As Joe Cocker would say. SecondCityCop has linked to this blog, and this blog is glad to do the same. We'll expect and welcome a lot of traffic from there, and will continue to stick to the policy addressed in the Welcome post. We also wonder how many more people would be needed to monitor the blog to keep it from becoming a mud-slinging cess pool.
posted by CPDDispatch @ 11:41 PM
15 Comments:
I'm not here to beef, glad to see that y'all have problems just like ourselves. To the call takers- when someone identifies themselves as the police, esp. with a suspicious person, don't play 20 questions about why they are suspicious. Just get it over to the zone. We are not just some idiots calling to say the purple guy don't belong in our orange neighborhood.
And to the po's who call - let us ask the questions we need to ask - i.e. who are you, how many offenders, weapons, WHERE are you, is this a 10-1 or and asstpo, etc. The cops coming on the scene still need to know what they are walking into - even with an odpo already on the scene who is calling b/c he/she needs asst.
Nice Blog...I've been wondering why dispatchers don't have more blogs. I found you through SCC.
Also, I'm going to link you on my sidebar.
Hey dispatchers, you're going to have to fill us in on the shift info. I was reading the other comments and it said 4th watch, 5th watch... what the heck is that. We (police side) only have 1,2,and 3. So can you tell us when each shift is and how long it last. Just so we have an idea on what the day is like for you guys.
Dispatchers, so glad to see this up and running. It'll be great to share some info. Maybe we can shed a little light into our side of the radio that will help both sides see where the other is coming from. For instance, why in the world would a dispatcher give a job like holding an offender 30 minutes before we are about to get off work. I mean some jobs just take 1-2 hours, it's just the way it goes with felony upgrades and stuff and by giving us that crap that late you really screw us over. It absolutely kills plans we've made, ie.. getting home for the babysitter, or so the wife can leave on time to go to her jobs. This blog will be great to help you guys understand that many times, maybe/hopefully without knowing it you really screw us over and by letting you know this stuff maybe you'll hold that ticket for the early cars coming out of roll call that have 8 hours to handle the job. Thanks for the great job that most of you do every day with no recognition. We truelly appreciate a good dispatcher more than you'll ever know!
4th and 5th watches are made up of call takers. They were created by the powers that be to try to have more overlapping of the watches - same # of people, but wider spread. People are mixed in whether or not it was effective. 4th watch is 10:30 - 1900 and 5th watch is 1830 - 0300.
so then is your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd basically the same as ours? 2nd-days, 3rd-afternoons??
Yes.
1st Watch: 2130-0600
2nd Watch: 0530-1400
3rd Watch: 1330-2200
To the ladies who work Zone 3, 3rd and 1st watch,
Thank you for your wonderful and hard work you serve us with every night. You ladies are always appreciated and missed when you take nights off or on furlough. Plus, you ladies know how to party!
14th District P.O.
I'll second the kudos to the Zone 3 girls.....Have known them for a long time and they are somne of the best....Just wish at times they did NOT recognize my voice all the time :)
Is that crazy female dispatcher still working on Zone 3, 3rd watch? I'm going back to March '97 until June '99. She was/is a piece of work.
There are a million and one stupid rules we have to abide by, we dont like to give jobs out when you're just about to go home, but we dont have a choice, its either give out the job or get a number and probably a suspension for delay in dispatching. The administration monitors our every move. They dont care about anything but there stats. Not the call takers , not the dispatchers , not the officers, just there statistics and the citizens who complain about everything. I know of someone who got a number because at the end of a call, they didnt tell the ignorant citizen the police would be sent out. How stupid can the administration get?
Please keep in mind one thing: any job you guys give with 30 min. to go till check off can turn into a fiasco. Anytime you have a caller, a possible offender, the potential is there for us to get stuck on bs for 3 hours. I know it's the nature of the beast, but still, just remember how you feel when you are forced to stay over. At least you guys know it's your turn to stay over...we make plans and get screwd over. Most of the time, it is something the early cars can handle, which are coming out in like 10 minutes. We really do love good dispatchers and will volunteer for jobs for our good ones. But when the same guys get stuck with these late clussters, it gets very old, boring and very upsetting.
You shout "foul" if you observe me driving fast to a call,
but raise the roof if I take more than ten seconds
to respond to your complaint.
You call it part of my job if someone strikes me,
but call it Police brutality if I strike back.
You wouldn't think of telling your dentist how to pull a tooth
or your doctor how to take out an appendix,
yet you are always willing to give me pointers on the law.
You talk to me in a manner that would get you
a bloody nose from anyone else, but
expect me to take it without batting an eye.
You yell something's got to be done to fight crime,
but you can't be bothered to get involved.
You have no use for me at all, but of course
it's OK if I change a flat for your wife,
deliver your child in the back of the Patrol car,
or perhaps save your son's life with mouth to mouth breathing,or work many hours overtime looking for your lost daughter.
So, Mr. Citizen, you can stand there on your soapbox and
rant and rave about the way I do my work,
calling me every name in the book, but never
stop to think that your property, family, or maybe even your life depends on me or one of my buddies.
Yes, Mr. Citizen, it's me... the cop!
The author of this article was Trooper Mitchell Brown of the Virginia State Police. He was killed in the line of duty in 2001 after writing the article. As a salute to
the millions of police officers who put their lives on
the line for us everyday, please pass this on.
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